U.S. Postmaster Miscellaneous Louis Dejoy arrives at a meeting at the office of Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the U.S. Capitol August 5, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Mental pictures
The House Oversight Committee will have an emergency hearing on Aug. 24 to address mail delivery delays and frights that the Trump administration is interfering with the U.S. Postal Service in order to impact voting in the November presidential poll.
House Democrats on Sunday called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Postal Service board of governors Chairman Robert M. Duncan to say at the upcoming hearing. Several House Democrats previously called for the subpoena of DeJoy, an ally of President Trump who they assert is purposely creating problems with the Postal Service to undermine the election.
“The postmaster general and top Postal Service management must answer to the Congress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to gag the voices of millions, just months before the election,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Keeping Chair Carolyn B. Maloney D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. wrote in a disclosure on Sunday.
Since beginning his role in June, DeJoy implemented a slew of major changes to the Post Office, categorizing a move to prohibit overtime, curtailing late trips for mail carriers that ensure on-time delivery and changing superintendence within the agency. These changes have raised concern that the delivery of vital medical prescriptions and Venereal Security checks could face delays.
The Postal Service is removing hundreds of mail-processing machines across the power and has warned 46 states that it may not be able to process all mail-in ballots in time to be counted for the election, likely disqualifying upholds.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic drive lead to widespread voter fraud. Trump suggested last week that he does not support billions of dollars for the Postal Work because he opposes mail-in voting. Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, have accused Trump of difficult to suppress the vote as he trails nominee Joe Biden in the polls.
Protesters in Washington D.C. called for the resignation of DeJoy over the weekend, with varied than 100 people gathering outside his home. The Postal Service’s inspector general has launched an investigation into the grouse Democrats have raised against DeJoy.
“Your testimony is particularly urgent given the troubling influx of inquire inti of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country — as well as President Trump’s explicit admission last week that he has been outline critical coronavirus funding for the Postal Service in order to impair mail-in voting efforts for the upcoming elections in November,” Maloney wrote in the thus on Sunday addressed to DeJoy.
In an interview on CNN on Sunday morning, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows indicated he is open to a standalone bill that funds the Postal Service as the agency grapples with an increase in mail ballot, a statement at odds with Trump’s comments last week that he would possibly support more breading only through a broader stimulus package.
Meadows also said the Postal Service will not remove numberless mail-sorting machines between now and the November election: “Sorting machines between now and Election Day will not be taken off line,” he said.